Saturday, January 26, 2002

14199 » January 26 4:43 PM. A little beyond shredding documents... According to Human Rights Watch, the irrepressible Enron paid local police to beat, harass, and intimidate farmers and fishermen in India who opposed the building of their new power plant in their backyards. Does this, after Exxon-Mobil was taken to court for building torture centers in Indonesia, call into question the power of small states vis a vis humongous multinational corporations? [MetaFilter] 8:47:07 PM    Comments []

New Channel: Liberty. I happen to be a card-carrying member of the Libertarian Party. 5:23:35 PM    Comments []

RaiseTheFist.com Raided, Shutdown by Los Angeles FBI. Prominent LA-based website RaiseTheFist.com was raided and shutdown by the local Joint Terrorism Task Force on Jan. 24, as reported by LA and SF Indymedia. The FBI, Secret Service, and LAPD served the search warrant Thursday afternoon based on charges of "computer fraud and abuse" as well as "distribution of information related to explosives, destructive devices, and/or weapons of mass destruction." LA FBI spokesperson Cheryl Mimura declined to release the name of the individual(s) under investigation, since no one has yet been arrested. Concerned Los Angeles activists are mobilizing support for RaiseTheFist.com. [kuro5hin.org] 4:56:12 PM    Comments []

14192 » January 26 12:22 PM. 28th Amendment to the US constitution? The "Alliance for Marriage" seeks to amend the United States consitution to define Marriage as between a man and a woman only, which would make it a first constitutional amendment to abrogate rather than protect individual freedoms. Bottom of the page has a link to fax your congressperson if you so choose. [MetaFilter] Sheesh! The government has no right to pass laws like that. What consenting adults do in private is nobody else's business. Why do these conservatives get so worked up about things like that, when there are much more important issues? 4:49:21 PM    Comments []

14181 » January 26 1:12 AM. Mideast vs West. From a conservative-libertarian point of view, what's wrong in the Muslim world, what caused 9-11, and how to fix it. Even if you don't agree with the author's conclusions (maybe especially if you don't agree with the author's conclusions) the piece is worth reading, as an exceptionally clear and forceful articulation of these ideas. Link found on Arts & Letters Daily. [MetaFilter] Great article. Here's a great comment: A direct assault that could be simplified by noting that the separation of church and state is really the central issue that has made the West what it is today (recall the days of the ruler as also central religious authjority) and that has never truly taken place in most Muslim countries as yet, where Islam has a great hold over even the monarchs of say Saudi Arabia or the dictators of Syria, Pakistan et al. When inflexible religious beliefs fly in the face of logic, we have things like abortion clinic bombings, book burnings, and Rev. Phelps' hate site, as well as the events of 9-11. 11:15:02 AM    Comments []